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پیر, فروری 7, 2011

Davis case: Fahim's widow commits suicide

Kanwal said she didn`t expect any justice from government." I do not expect any justice from this government. That is why I want to kill myself," said Kanwal in a statment recorded by the doctor.She also spoke to reporters after arriving at the hospital , saying " I want blood for blood. The way my husband was shot, his killer should be shot in the same fashion."

According to reports, Shamaila Kanwal had married Fahim only two months back and following the killing of her husband, she took poisonous tablets in desperation and died on Sunday. According to witnesses her last words were" when Fahim has died, I would also not remain alive".
Family members said that she was taken to Allied Hospital Faisalabad in critical condition at 4 PM on Sunday. Doctors tried their best to save her life and Medical Superintendent of the hospital Rana Bashir told INP that she is clinically dead.
The news of the suicide of young widow spread like a wild fire in the cityand large number of people gathered outside the hospital. They expressed their grief over the death of Shamaila Kanwal and condemned the murder of Fahim. They demanded that the US national should not be given diplomatic immunity and punished for his crime.
A doctor says the wife of one of the Pakistani men allegedly shot and killed by an American official has tried to commit suicide by eating rat poison.
Ali Naqi, a doctor in Faisalabad city treating Shumaila Kanwal, said she told him she took the poison Sunday because she believes her husband’s suspected killer will be freed without trial. Her condition is deteriorating.
The US has said the American official, identified by Pakistanis as Raymond Allen Davis, has diplomatic immunity and is being illegally detained. He has told a Pakistani court that he acted in self-defense on Jan. 27 when he shot two armed men trying to rob him at gunpoint as he drove his car in the eastern city of Lahore.
Police say they are pursuing possible murder charges. A doctor says the wife of one of the Pakistani men allegedly shot and killed by an American official has tried to commit suicide by eating rat poison.
Ali Naqi, a doctor in Faisalabad city treating Shumaila Kanwal, said she told him she took the poison Sunday because she believes her husband’s suspected killer will be freed without trial. Her condition is deteriorating. The US has said the American official, identified by Pakistanis as Raymond Allen Davis, has diplomatic immunity and is being illegally detained.

THE brutal killing of two Pakistanis in the thickly populated area of Lahore by the US national Raymond Davis has become a point of diplomatic row between Islamabad —Washington and it appears that the world super power which claims to be champion of human rights is losing patience. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned President Asif Ali Zardari asking for the release of the arrested American from “illegal custody”.

It is now clear that the US has started applying its pressure which is quite visible from the telephone call of the top American diplomat telling President Zardari that Pakistan Government had no other choice but to abide by its obligation under international and Pakistani law to recognize his (Davis) diplomatic immunity and to immediately release him. There had been conflicting reports as to whether Davis was a diplomat or not as the official documents have proved that the American killer is not an accredited diplomat but a non-diplomatic staff of the Embassy. There is a lot of difference between absolute immunity and the limited one that is given to non-diplomatic staff like Raymond Davis. But the Interior Minister Rehman Malik now says that Davis is a diplomat and he is being recognized as such. Pakistani legal experts continue to scratch their heads to deal with what is clearly more of a political rather than a straightforward legal issue. Though the US is pressurizing Pakistan, the mind-boggling question is that his real identity is not being disclosed. Even if he is a diplomat, the question arises what he was doing in the populated area of Lahore while the American nationals are under clear instructions to avoid going out unnecessarily for security reasons. As for other objections of the US Embassy that it was not notified the timing for the appearance of Davis in the Lahore Court, a senior official of Punjab Government official has stated that the US mission was aware before hand that he was being produced before a Lahore judicial magistrate. In our view it appears that it is now a matter of days that Raymond Davis would be a free man and may restart his “diplomatic” duties. It would be in line with Pakistan’s overall typical conduct as a State to cave in to US pressures. We would advise that on the whole Pakistani leadership should look at these things minutely and country’s conduct should be in commensurate with our standing as a sovereign State particularly when it comes to the honour and dignity of our motherland.